Apple Could Introduce iPad Mini, New iPods, Rumor Says

Apple could launch a new iPod Nano, a new iPod Touch, a touch-screen iPod Shuffle, and a smaller-screen iPad later in 2010, rumor has it. Apple is widely expected to refresh its iPod line in September.

It's that time of year again: As September approaches, along with Apple's
expected refresh of its iPod line, the rumor mill has already begun to crank
into high gear on the subject of the company's next generation of portable
devices.
In 2009, rumors centered on an iPod equipped
with a camera for stills and video; that eventually arrived in the form of the
revamped iPod Nano, which included a built-in video camera and FM radio.
This time around, the early scuttlebutt suggests multiple iPod models will be
updated.

"Take this report with the requisite grains of salt, but here's what
we've heard about the upcoming late 2010/early 2011 iPod, iPhone and iPad
lineups from a highly reliable source," Jeremy Horwitz, editor-in-chief of
iLounge,
wrote Aug. 4. "Our sources' accuracy level is very high but not
perfect, which is about as good as can be expected given the nature of
Apple-related leaks."

According to Horwitz's unnamed source, Apple will launch a new iPod Nano, a
new iPod Touch and what could be a touch-screen-enabled replacement for the
iPod Shuffle. Also predicted: a 7-inch iPad for either late 2010 or early 2011
release, cheaper all-silicone iPhone bumpers and a fifth-generation iPhone
possibly due in early 2011.
"It's unknown whether this will be a repackaging of iPhone 4 components
in a different shell or something more substantial. We reiterate: It's hard to
believe," Horwitz wrote about the iPhone rumor. "But as with so many
seemingly farfetched early reports, it's not impossible."
Another blog, Hardmac, suggested that an
iPod Touch 4 with a camera aperture could be on the way-at least based on a
photo illustration supposedly done by an iPod case manufacturer. "Even if
it is hard to have a perfect view through the case," Hardmac said Aug. 5,
"it looks like the back is rounded, unlike the one of the new iPhone, and
of course there is a camera and a flash."
While
Apple generated revenues of $15.7 billion for the third fiscal quarter of 2010, reported sales of iPods declined 8
percent from the same quarter in 2009; the company has long said
cannibalization by the iPhone is at least partially responsible for the
decrease. During the same quarter, Apple sold 3.27 million iPads, 3.47 million
Macs and 8.4 million iPhones.
A July 21 note from research company iSuppli predicted that Apple
could become the world's second-largest OEM semiconductor buyer in 2011, on
its way to becoming the top global chip purchaser in 2012, on the strength of
its devices' sales.

Nicholas Kolakowski is a staff editor at eWEEK, covering Microsoft and other companies in the enterprise space, as well as evolving technology such as tablet PCs. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Playboy, WebMD, AARP the Magazine, AutoWeek, Washington City Paper, Trader Monthly, and Private Air. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.